1862

The 1862 Seated Liberty Dollar carries a 12,090-piece mintage at the Philadelphia Mint, a sharp drop from the 78,500-piece 1861 production and one of the lower Civil War-era Seated Dollar mintages. The 1862 carries the standard Christian Gobrecht obverse and the No Motto reverse that defines the series through 1865. The low production reflects Civil War silver-coin economics at their most severe, with the suspension of specie payments in December 1861 driving silver coins out of circulation entirely and reducing depositor incentives to convert bullion into silver-dollar coinage rather than hold the metal.

Strike quality on the 1862 is generally above average for the small-mintage year, with the low production keeping dies fresh and Liberty's head, the seated figure's drapery, and the eagle's central feathers coming up cleanly on most coins. Most surviving 1862 Seated Dollars grade VF to AU from limited Civil War-era circulation, with PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, and NGC populations clustering at EF and AU. Mint State examples are scarce above MS62 and genuinely rare at MS65 and above. The 12,090-piece original mintage produces a tight certified population concentrated in the EF and AU grade bands.

The 1862 is classed as a regular date on this site but trades meaningfully above the common-date Seated Dollar baseline at every grade, with the very low Civil War-era mintage supporting strong collector demand consistent with Semi-Key pricing in practice. The 1862 pairs with the 1863, 1864, and 1865 as the matched Civil War-era Philadelphia Seated Dollar group, with all four issues showing lower mintages than the surrounding peace-time years. Authentication concerns center on cleaning, polishing, and rim damage in the raw market; certified slabs from PCGS or NGC are the standard purchase route at all grade levels. For the Civil War silver-coin context and the broader 1860s Seated Dollar production history, see the Seated Liberty Dollar series history.